Christmas Highlights Week 2

Craft: Snowmen
Loved this one and so simple! So glad to have some new artwork up on our walls! Our neighbor, Lexi, happened to come over as we were starting so she joined in the fun.

Lights On The Square
This one is sort-of a go-to after DI. Always fun to see the lights dancing to music. It was plenty chilly but not too cold to climb trees. They have missed doing this since we do not get to the library as often as we have in years past.

Christmas City USA
This was such a fun find! This church puts on a show for Christmas and it is totally free! A friend told me it was broadway quality and she was accurate! Such a fun event and excited to see the shows they put on in years following.

Christmas Party
We were invited to a Christmas party from a friend from church so enjoyed a chance to dress up!

Found this kit at Hobby Lobby and used it a couple of times for L's hair!

Christmas Highlights Week1

PJs and Books
This year we bought some Christmas chapter books to add to our collection. We have loved the few we have gotten through as read-alouds and have some we can look forward to for next year!

Christmas Coloring Pages
The detailed pages have been fun and the kids love coloring while I read.

Football At The Star
We had been planning to head to The Star when the weather was nice so that the boys could play football on the field outside. The timing didn't work out until December, so they got to play with some Christmas music playing and some fun decorations around the field! This time only one friend could make it but they still had fun!

Gingerbread House
This was extra special this year as we ordered the Lego gingerbread house! We worked on it one evening as a family and the Makin finished it up the next day.

"This is the cutest Lego set I have ever done!"

The kids kept it out on the school table and fun setting up the gingerbread man and woman differently.

Christmas Concert
The school put on a great show this year! I loved that the kids got to wear Christmas shirts...so festive! One highlight was "the surprise song" which was something the kids were very hush hush about because it was supposed to be a surprise for the parents. The 5th grade led the entire audience in The Twelve Days of Christmas and each section was to mimic their actions that they were assigned.

5th graders waiting to act out their assigned day...Lorelei had 11 pipers piping

Shayla, Natalie, Lorelei, Reagan and Mallory

Fancy Breakfast
Yum!

Polynesian Performance
Lorelei performed a dance to Mele Kalikimaka this year at a Christmas festival. No surprise their favorite part of the night was the petting zoo!

Galleria
The kids requested last year that we go back and see the skating Santa so it made the cut this year! We sure loved seeing the circus again as well.

Way too peopley for Brad...me too but especially him. ;)

Movie: The Grinch
We found out the theater closest to our house occasionally has some movies you wouldn't expect and I was delighted to find there was a Christmas movie selection of old movies you could see! We tried a version of The Grinch we hadn't seen and liked it much better than the one we watched last year. It was extra special getting to see in the theater!

November Happenings

Community Parade
Our school participated in this parade for the first time. Our theme was "Out Of The Box Education" and it was a fun chance to spend some time with our school community.

Our adorable helpers on the way to put together the float. I spy Lorelei, do you? ;)

DI had its own banner following the float.
(Makin didn't join us because he had a golf tournament that afternoon.)

That white thing on the back of the pickup was the eagle mascot (who was turned around for the pic).
It was a huge hit with parade crowd.

Art/Bowling Afternoon
We had an art "field trip" where the kids made stained glass using glue and food dye. They really enjoyed it! Following up that afternoon we also had a 5th grade bowling event which was lots of fun with friends.

5th Grade Girls Bowling

The siblings and David (a dad) played on the other lane.

Outdoor Time
I always love our outdoor time. It's getting harder to fit it in but we try!

Lorelei's go-to is a bike ride.

Makin's go-to is usually catch, or really any game will work!

Museum With Friends
We headed for one last trip to the museum before our membership ends. The kiddos always love going with friends.

House Projects
I have an ambitious list I was hoping to get completed by the end of the year...while I've basically given up on getting it ALL done I just determined to get done with as much as I could...this meant a lot of hard work over Thanksgiving break since its so hard to fit this in when we have busy home school days!

We tackled L's bookshelf on a day separate from the rest of her room.
Don't worry, these are the keeps stacks. ;)

Reading Time
They were both totally thrilled to check out the third Harry Potter book for the break! One of my favorite things about them reading these is that they are very bonded with their love for these books!

Father/Daughter Date
As we looked forward to Frozen 2 coming out, Brad reminded me that he took Lorelei to the first one as a date six years ago. Makin said he really didn't care about seeing it, so this time it was a movie date again! (I will just have to wait until it comes out for movie night!)

Waco and Birthday Fun
I headed to Waco and Mary and I had a kid-free meet up for the first time! We enjoyed our usual cupcakes and chatting before heading to check out a few shops around town.

I was totally spoiled on my birthday this year. I had so many thoughtful cards and gifts from friends and family. I spent the day reading and then went out for a girl's night that evening for a holiday escape room and supper out! What a nice treat having a birthday on a Saturday!